First Few Days of Food!!

So here are my photos thus far. Mostly food. haha. you can see where my interest lies.

First, I went to Harajuku and just kinda walked around. Scopin' the area out. haha. There are vending machines everywhere, which is nice, because it's hot and humid and people get thirsty, and what beter to drink, but what you are losing in buckets: sweat. That's right, I drank the famous Pocari Sweat. It was actually pretty tasty. Better than Gatorade. Gotta get my ions.

Then I was walking around and saw this in a doorway. I took a picture mostly for my dad's benefit. I feel like it's his kind of humor. and mine. ^^

I mean, where else would anything be made? Anywho, I really wish I had taken a picture of the whole street that we walked because it was crazy busy and stuffed full of more stores than there was room for. Forgot though. oops. Too busy with the actual shopping.

When Sam and I got exhausted, we sat down in this cute little cafe type place and I had a "mixed berry vinegar iced tea." vinegar. weirdness. It was so weird that I had to try it, and it was super tasty!! You have no idea. And there were little berries at the bottom!! Cute! Sam got a macha thingy.

Side note: this was the best spot for people watching. Harajuku style is so funny. but in a cool way. It's cool on other people, not so much me. Not that I didn't try. All the girls, not just in Harajuku, wear their hair right on the very top of their heads with little scrunchies....I may have bought a scrunchie.

Then I saw this shirt on a stand in the middle of Harajuku. It says, in bright neon pink I might add, "ore ha homo jyanai" or "I am not a homo." Then I asked the guy if it was ok for me to take a picture of it....IN JAPANESE!! Woohooo!! Look at me and my Japanese skills!! So I did and there's the picture. good story.

Next we went to Shinjuku, which is the largest JR (Japan Railways) station. 'Twas crazy busy. Looks like this from the station:

It was way cooler at night, but I was too busy being hit on by hosts to take pictures. True story. I'm gorgeous. They can't help themselves.

Then I went here:

and ate this:

Tasty looking, no? Less than 5 bucks! And it has a little croquet in it! I love those!! It was a really weird set up, the restaurant. It was kind of like how Japanese high school cafeterias work. You walk in and there are these little vending machine type things where to put in money and get a ticket for what meal you want. Then you bring the ticket to the cook guy at in the back, sit down and eat your delicious food. efficient.

The next day we had breakfast around the corner from where we're staying in Koenji at a place called Mister Donut. Look what I got!

Aren't they cute! They're little donuts that look like hamburgers!! Here look again:

Bam! Cute little donut hamburgers close up. And here's a little chart they had up on the wall telling you what's in them. The pink one that I think is supposed to look like tomatoes is strawberry jelly and strawberry whipped something or other, and the green one is macha (green tea) jelly and whipped stuff. And there is a chocolate bar for the hamburger meat and donut buns!! So cute! And only $1.68 for two! Only in Japan, land of the cute people.

Right after, for real food, I got a tekka maki (tuna roll) for about $1.30 literally 10ft away at this place:

The lady was so cute and old and nice! And this is what I stuffed in my mouth:

Then Sam and I went to Takadanobaba, which for the record, officially has the best name in all of Japan, to check out an apartment. It's in a really cute residential area, but it's really expensive. We're going to look at two others and then decide. This little escapade (and I call it that because it was really hard to find, but I got to ask a nice old man running a convenience store for directions IN KEIGO and felt super proud and happy afterwards) was followed by delicious curry with calamari on top. I love Japanese food. No, I love cheap Japanese food. I could seriously spend my whole life in Tokyo I think.

Then we went to Oimachi station to meet someone who was taking an English lesson from me. We got there like 1 hour and a half, 2 hours early, but we were both pretty tired, so we just chilled out in this cute little garden type place by the central exit to the station. It was really nice weather, and then these guys started playing really relaxing music. One guy was on the semi-acoustic guitar and the other sang and played the piano. I liked them so much that I bought a CD and had them sign it for me! You can hear it here. The first one is our favorite. It's the one that got us to each buy the album. They were so nice and I spoke some Japanese to them! I love speaking Japanese. I wish I could do it better. haha.

Then this cute little Japanese lady walked up to me and said she was my student! Yay! She is a newlywed and so sweet. We hit it off really well and had a really wonderful English lesson. We were at a little cafe inside the station and at the end of the 50min, she hadn't finished her tea yet. She was really surprised that the 50min had gone by so quickly too. So, we just continued talking until she finished her tea, in English and Japanese, and then left really pleasantly. I think this is going to be really good. We're going to meet every Tuesday evening at $15 each. Pretty good for my first experience teaching English in Japan, no?

So I was on such a high after that. That's my dream you know? To teach English all over the world and I'm doing it already at age 19!! The day was just topped off perfectly with an oyakodon in Koenji by my room.

Also, we've made friends with one of the guys we're sharing the house with. His name is Jonathan and he's from San Francisco oddly enough. He's a little older than us, but really cool and speaks Japanese much better than I do. He's been her 4 months already too, so he's pretty cool to talk to.

There are two other guys in the house. They are both from Sweden, but I've only met one of them and only once. I really only see Jonathan. I really like it here and it will be kinda sad to leave Koenji I think. Maybe not. Depends on how much in love with my apartment I am. ^^

All my blogs are not going to be this long, but Sam and I decided that today was going to be a lazy day of recuperation so I have time to update. I'll try to keep updating, but hopefully I'll be too busy! Ok, bye then!